The Most Terrifying Zombies in Film

A list making up some of the scariest zombies in film, including movies such as 28 Days Later and REC.

Zombies have become a mainstay of the horror genre over the years, gaining popularity with every new stampede of the undead. Each new director brings a fresh interpretation on the most frightening movie monster to date; from the mindlessly ridiculous to scarily authentic portrayals of flesh-eating creatures. Here at Roobla zombies scare us, so much so that we’ve compiled a list of the most terrifying zombies in film.

Dead Snow (2009)

In the desolate mountains of Norway, a group of students unknowingly unleash a flock of malicious Nazi zombies when they foolishly steal a mysterious chest full of gold coins. While it is certain that Colonel Herzog and his decomposed fellows are zombies, they do not convey the same qualities as the standard living dead do – the Nazi zombies carry slightly more vindictive intentions in their maggot strewn heads. They murder each victim with precision and purpose, not just for the tasty brains which makes their intellect and stamina that much more fearsome than other zombies.

World War Z (2013)

Crawling around theatres – World War Z is the most recent zombie film based on Max Brook’s renowned novel of the same name. The dead begin to rise in the first 10 minutes – the film is reluctant to prepare you for that. These creatures are fierce, nasty and very quick – once bitten the reanimation lasts up to 12 seconds. On the other hand, these zombies strangely hold a soft spot for the terminally ill – they refrain from attacking anyone with a life threatening disease or illness which is rather irregular for a common zombie, as they do not have a conscience and never pick and choose what type of brain they fancy to eat. Then again, the swiftness and the determination of these creatures alone make them more horrifying than some other movie zombies.

REC (2007)

REC is a clever little horror flick, fetching some terrifying moments in the mind meltingly over-used shaky cam style of filmmaking – however it is one of the few shaky camera films that don’t make us want to vomit blood. The film centres on a reporter and her camera man becoming trapped inside a quarantined building with a deadly virus spreading amongst its inhabitants. As the story evolves, the reasons behind the outbreak are uncovered, the virus becoming intertwined with demonic possession which once again makes these predators different to normal zombies as the origin of the infection is so much more sinister than a regular virus based epidemic. The following sequel to the first film unearths the core of the virus – it is discovered that a sole demon is commanding and communicating with anyone infected with the mutated demonic virus. The infection is described to work like a common virus, attacking the blood cells and turning each victim into blood thirsty creatures that make up REC.

28 Days Later(2002)

Innovative, scary and profound – 28 Days Later gave way for the fast zombies to make their breakthrough into horror cinema with a nifty virus that caused for the subject to become rapid and psychotic. Again, the zombies in 28 Days Later are not distinctive; they refrain from devouring their victims and can run – fast. The red-eyed ‘infected’ possess extreme rage causing them to attack their victims, either killing them or infecting them with the same vicious infection. The virus-based infection is quite common in the zombie genre with each new reanimated corpse carrying new characteristics and the speedy, frenzied zombies in 28 Days Later certainly qualify – making them extremely terrifying.

BrainDead – also titled Dead Alive (1992)

Peter Jackon’s gore filled zombie film is more humorous than scary – filled with glorious plasticine and buckets of fake blood. The zombies in BrainDead are your regular run of the mill walking dead, tearing the elastic skin off their prey like pieces of loose meat, mindlessly devouring every single bit which is of course entirely ordinary for a walking corpse. BrainDead is unmistakably the bloodiest zombie film with splayed guts and blood dominating the majority of running time.